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"What is Smarky ??"

Well, here we are again for another op in my little adoption series. So far we've covered adopting sheep and seals, and I was going to cover iguanas this time, but instead I've decided to make it Cornishmen. Now dear reader, it's been a funny old week since I last wrote an op, the scorpion has had an 11 lb baby, Bethany for a start !! You?re are understandably anxious to hear what I've been doing, well my fan club secretaries harmonyk or Sue26 could fill you in, but to save you the membership fee, on Tuesday BT came round to install a new internet line. He was a lovely man, we sat and chatted here for 4 hours, then he went away saying he had to have lunch, somehow he seems to have forgotten to put the line in though, so another nice man is coming to chat to me on Monday. Better right an op now, it?s going to be about Skinner's Breweries, of Truro, Cornwall. What's this all got to do with Smark1985 you say !! Well, dear little Smarky has been down there in Cornwall writing ops on WWF wrestling and wanting to keep the rest of the world out of Cornwall, but I've been reading those ops and have constantly built a resistance party ready to infiltrate Cornwall. Skinner's was founded in July 1997 by Steve and Sarah Skinner. It has established itself as one of the most successful breweries in the South West. It become the first brewery to win Supreme Champion at the prestigious Tucker's Maltings beer festival in Newton Abbot for two years running. Now, have a look at Smarky's photo, you can just imagine all those Cornishmen in their bonnets supping beer can't you, saying " Wot moi loik ", or is that me and harmonyk ??? To get you in the Cornish mood, I'll tell you a few places this beer is sold first :- Looe Golf Club. Liberal Club, St. Columb. Blue Peter, Polperro. Smugglers, St.Erth. Cheese Wring Hotel, Minions, Liskeard. Truro Squash Club. Peruvian Arms, Mount Street , Penzance Driftwood Spars, Trevaunce Cove, St. Agnes. Mylor Yacht Club, Mylor, Falmouth. Got the Cornwall mood yet, if not try www.skinnersbrewery.com, or phone them on 01637 876391. I must just mention here one of their highlight pubs, Skinners Ale House, East Street, Newquay. This serves the complete range of Skinner's beers, and as Skinners believe drinking should be fun, they attempt to make it so, Skinners believe in knowing how to keep real ale. Live music is played at the Skinners Arms on special nights of the week (like Zursday's ???). Membership of their Knockers club entitles you to incredibly cheap beer and food. The food is freshly prepared on the premises each day.. Is Skinner's definition of real ale.. "It's in a glass and can be drunk so of course it's real !!" Well actually no, their definition is "draft or bottled beer brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide." This definition was drawn up by the Oxford English dictionary after extensive discussions with CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale). CAMRA started nearly 30 years ago, at a time when small breweries like Skinners hardly existed, and large regional brewers were being taken over and closed down at an alarming rate by a small number of mega-breweries. These breweries came up with their own idea - keg beer. Real ale requires a bit of skill by the landlord, whereas keg beer is killed, filtered and pasteurised in the brewery, then has a gas bottle connected to it in the pub to put the bubbles back. In 1972 a group of four or five beer-loving journalists started CAMRA, and membership now stands at around the 60,000 mark. Cornwall has it's own branch, though there are two sub-branches to cover the east and north of the area. A little about how Skinners is made now, the brewing process con sists of nine key components :- 1. Malting is the process of getting the barley ready for brewing. 2. Steeping. The grain is added to a vat along with water and allowed to soak for 42 hours. 3. Germination. The grain is spread on the floor of the germination room for 5 days where the rootlets begin to form. 4. Kilning. The green malt now goes through a high temperature drying in a kiln. Temperature increases are gradual so that the enzymes in the grain are not damaged. 5. Milling is the cracking of the grain which the brewer chooses for the particular batch of beer. 6. Mashing converts the starches which were released during the malting process to sugars that can be fermented. 7. Brewing. The wort now goes to the kettle where it is brought to the boil. 8. Cooling. The wort is transferred quickly from the brew kettle through a device to filter out the hops, and then onto a heat exchanger to b cooled. 9. Fermentation. After passing through the heat exchanger, the cooled wort goes to the fermentation tank. This has been a fairly brief resume of what occurs, but further details may be found on the web site if required. The beer is finally racked, which means the beerr is moved into a conditioning tank, where it completes it?s ageing process. Some of Skinners Ales are :- Coastliner ABV 3.4 % Spriggan Ale 3.8%. A light golden hoppy bitter with a distinct Goldings Aroma. Betty Stogs Bitter. ABV 4.0%. A pale amber, mid strength beer with distinct hoppy overtones. Cornish Knocker Ale. ABV 4.5%. A strrong, clean tasting Golden Ale, not too sweet with a fresh flowery aroma. Figgy?s Brew ABV 4.5%. A classic dark premium strength bitter, full flavoured with a smooth finish. Summer Blonde. ABV 5.0%. There are also occasional ales such as :- Mazey Ale. Tresco Tipple. Kiddlywink. Goofy Bitter St. Piran's Ale. Jingle Knockers. And bottled beers such as :- Cornish Knocker Who Put the Lights Out ?? If anyone sees Smarky, tell him I'd like to adopt him please !!